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Business of all sizes and in all industries can benefit from the strategic insights and financial controls provided by the annual budgeting process. However, depending on the velocity of changes in the general economy and/or your specific industry, an annual budget can become stale and thus less valuable as management tool. Read More »

For my entire career, I have been fascinated by the narrative that accompanies a start-up or an entrepreneur. In fact, working with clients who possess an entrepreneurial attitude and helping them become successful is one of the main reasons I started Premiere Financial Consultants. Read More »

The basis of the traditional approach to strategy is the assumption that, by utilizing the proper analytic tools, management can forecast the future accurately enough to design a clear strategy. However, this process usually underestimates the uncertainty involved with predicting future events. Read More »

Having an organized, clearly-defined process for decision-making is necessary for any executive. However, our individual cognitive biases play a role in our decision making. A CFO by focusing on financial information, and can help decision makers avoid cognitive biases. By building a decision process that includes other trusted opinions and perspectives, one can increase the chance that logic and fact-based strategy will prevail over personal bias – intentional or otherwise. Read More »

The relationship between the business owner and banker is among the important strategic relationships necessary for the long term success of a growing entity (almost as important as the CPA relationship). However, consolidation of the banking industry and the resulting movement of personnel between financial institutions have added challenges to the business owner. Read More »

On December 17, 2010 the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (the 2010 Tax Relief Act) was signed into law. The Act includes: Read More »

I have always believed that the long-term goal of business of all sizes should be to maximize shareholder value. Timely, accurate, and reliable management information is critical to analyze the success of value-enhancement strategies. Derrick Lilly’s article in the September/October 2010 issue of the Illinois CPA Society’s INSIGHT Magazine, “Become a High-Performance Company” discusses enhancing monthly financial reporting to include metrics which provide management greater insight into their operations. Mr. Lilly’s research indicates six key numbers to monitor: revenue, net income, cash flows from operations, total assets, total liabilities, and total equity. Lilly also presents four key ratios to me mindful of: asset turnover, profit margin, cash-flow yield, and debt to equity ratio. Read More »

On March 30, 2010 President Obama signed into law the final piece of his Health Reform legislation. The legislation will be fully phased in by 2018 and will provide health care coverage to some 32 million uninsured as well as making it more affordable for millions. The cost of this $938 billion legislation will be paid for with tax increases at varying effective dates. Read More »

In today’s technology-driven, fast-paced economy, it’s increasingly important to be agile and creative in your approach. Forbes author, Josh Linkner has written a piece titled “Your Business Should Be Like A Jazz Combo,” which addresses this concept in a rather direct and unusual way. He contends that both jazz and business legends are the people who think innovatively, in addition to their technical prowess. The true innovators are those whom constantly reinvent themselves, looking for new approaches and solutions. Linkner even presents four ideas for how your business can “Be Like A Jazz Combo”: Read More »